Malaysia Airlines’ Kathmandu-bound MH 114 has declared emergency en route to Kathmandu, enough to cause a stir among aviation enthusiasts and plane spotters. Twitter feed can be seen flooded with questions asking about the aircraft. Flightradar app also displayed a notification regarding the emergency status.

After few time in turnaround, the plane changed back squawk code to 2000 (no longer in emergency) and proceed with landing. The aircraft involved is 9M-MXA, in Malaysia Airlines retro livery.

KUALA LUMPUR, December 29th 2014 – An Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 has lost contact from Indonesian air traffic controller yesterday morning (December 28th 2014) and is still missing as of 12:55 AM today.

Search and rescue process is underway. Listed below are countries that offer help or already helping with search and rescue process of Flight QZ 8501.

Summary: Many countries are offering help as of now. Indonesia is leading the search and rescue team. Search for Day 1 has been suspended after dusk because of lack of sunlight. Search will resume on Day 2 (Monday).

Search Update – Day 2 (December 29th 2014)

Updated on 11:14 AM

The search resumes after it was suspended the previous night. More nations are expection to join the search today.

Australia has deployed a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft to assist in search operations. The Australian air force and navy joined the search ops.

Australia

A P3 Orion aircraft is on standby to assist with search process.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also spoke with Indonesian President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to express his condolences of the incident and offer assistance as necessary. Foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop has confirmed that there are no Australians onboard. Nevertheless, she reiterated that Australia is offering support and assistance as necessary (source).

India

Pranav Kulkarni said Indian Navy keeps P8i maritime reconnaissance aircraft at INS Rajali. Three ships are also on standby for search and rescue.

Indonesia

Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency deployed seven ships and two helicopters to search the shores of Belitung and Kalimantan, shortly after the aircraft reported missing.

Indonesian Air Force Boeing 737 reconnaissance aircraft has also been sent to the last known location of Flight QZ 8501.

Indonesian Navy said it has dispatched four ships by the end of Day 1 of search operation.

Indonesian Army deployed ground troops to search at shores and mountans of adjacent islands.

Malaysia

Malaysia has set up a rescue coordination center in Subang and put three aircraft and three military vessels to assist in search and rescue operation.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said Putrajaya will assist Indonesia AirAsia in finding the missing aircraft. The media statement was made during an event in Lipis, Pahang on December 28th 2014.

Singapore

Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) has initially deployed a C0130 Hercules aircraft for search and rescue process of Indonesia AirAsia QZ 8501. A Singaporean officer will be deployed to Jakarta to aid Indonesian authorities on search operation and two more C-130 Hercules will be deployed for search and rescue operation.

United States

No direct assistance is being offered as of now.

Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman told media that US President, Barack Obama has been briefed about the situation and White House officials will continue to monitor the progress.

Malaysia has already been hit by two major aviation disasters, namely Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 and Flight MH 17. AirAsia, the leading budget carrier of Asia starts operation in Malaysia. Therefore, the recent Indonesia AirAsia incident is also associated with Malaysia although it has very little connection with Malaysia / Malaysian government.

Indonesia AirAsia Ownership Information

Contrary to popular belief, AirAsia Berhad does not hold majority share in Indonesia AirAsia. This is because Indonesian law does not allow majority foreign ownership of domestic civil aviation operations.

Indonesia, not Malaysia

For Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501, we must keep in mind of the following:

Flight QZ 8501 is an Indonesian aircraft, bound by Indonesian rules and regulations.

The flight also departed from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. The flight lost contact with Indonesian air traffic controller in Indonesian Airspace.

There is quite a number of internet users mistaken this as a Malaysian aircraft:

Comment on AirAsia Facebook page 141228 1712

This one is taken on AirAsia Facebook page.

Comment on RT.com page 141228 1712

Another screenshot taken from Russian-based news portal also indicated the same sentiment.

We hope that news outlets should be more specific in reporting news to prevent false news and sentiments being raised, especially in light of two aviation disasters involving Malaysia before.

It is important for us to stop the blame game and let the respective government(s) and authorities focus on their investigation instead.

Nevertheless, AirAsia is one of the safest airline in the world with no prior incident with fatalities.

The following statement is posted on its Facebook page and shared via Twitter @airasia as well.

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.

At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.

AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.

AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.

KUALA LUMPUR, December 28th 2014 (Sunday): An Indonesia AirAsia flight (QZ 8501) from Surabaya, Indonesia has lost contact with air traffic control on at 6:17 AM (local time, Indonesia) – 2317 hrs GMT.

All times are stated in Malaysian Standard Time (MST, GMT +8:00) unless specified otherwise.

An official from Indonesian Transport Ministry, Hadi Mustofa said the plane asked for unusual route before losing contact with air traffic controller.

The flight is scheduled to arrive Singapore at 8:30 AM but it has yet to arrive.

It is currently unknown whether Flight QZ 8501 has anything to do with the weather or not.

Search and Rescue Process

The aircraft is confirmed missing as of 7:55 AM while the last contact occured at 7:24 AM (6:24 AM Western Indonesia Time).

Day 1: Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia worked together to search for the missing plane. Australia has also offered assistance of deemed necessary. No positive results have been found.

Day 2: Royal Australian Air Force and Navy has joined the search. As of 11:21 AM, no positive results have been found.

Jurisdiction

The aircraft is registered in Indonesia and owned by an Indonesian company, AirAsia Indonesia. Besides, the incident does not occur in Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysian government is not involved with this incident. Read more here.

Contact Information

AirAsia has established an emergency call centre for family and friends of those who are affected. The phone number is +622129850801.

Thai AirAsia will see 2014 as one of its most dreadful years as it will record the biggest slump in profits in 10 years of history.

The ongoing political crises in Thailand were said to be the major contributing factor of the decline. The company said it will focus more on domestic markets rather than international ones because international market recorded huge drop in profit compared to domestic market.

It does not seem to affect much of AirAsia’s operation in other region though, as indicated y AirAsia’s desire to launch AirAsia Asean Pass, which allows users to pick flights throughout Asean (Southeast Asian) countries using pre-purchased credits. With 137 routes within AirAsia network for Asean alone, users will be spoilt for choice, according to a news report from 3sixty, AirAsia’s travel magazine.

The announcement came in shortly after previous news article by The Star Malaysia highlighting its scucess as Asia’s Best and World’s Best Low Cost Airline by Skytrax for six consecutive years (2009 to 2014).